King George Hospital still awaiting approval for Covaxin clinical trials
VISAKHAPATNAM: CLINICAL trials of Covaxin will begin at King George Hospital after getting the approval from the Directorate of Medical Education (DME.) KGH is one of the 12 hospitals chosen by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for conducting the clinical trials of Covaxin. The approval of DME is expected to come any time.
Soon after getting the approval, the ethics committee will have a detailed discussion on conduct of clinical trials of Covaxin, said Dr PV Sudhakar, principal of Andhra Medical College. Dr Venugopal, Head of Paediatrics Department, has been appointed principal investigator for conducting clinical trials of the vaccine. After the deliberations of the ethics committee, the clinical trials of the vaccine will be taken up as per the ICMR guidelines, he said.
When the commencement of the first phase of human clinical trials of vaccine at NIMS in Hyderabad was taken to his notice, Dr Sudhakar said it is an autonomous institution. The bed strength in Rajendra Prasad isolation ward in KGH will be increased from 15 to 145 to treat more Covid cases. All the beds will be equipped with supply of oxygen.
Multi-feed Oxygen Manifold (MOM) provided by the Eastern Naval Command is being used in the isolation ward. About 3,000 beds will be set up in various government and private hospitals in the district to meet the spike in corona cases. Steps are also being taken to make at least 7,000 beds ready in the district as corona cases are expected to rise steeply by the third week of August, he said.
Control room comes up at collectorate
Srikakulam: On a day when 252 new cases were reported from Srikakulam, taking the tally to 3,487, district collector J Nivas set up a Covid control room at the collectorate to address the virus-related problems arising in the district.